87 



ii 



nest, there being a tradition that the damme will bring some leaf to open it. He layed at the 

 bottome of the tree a cleane sheete, and before many hours passed the nail came out, and he 

 found a leafe lying by it on the sheete.' " 



Varieties of the Green Woodpecker are occasionally met with ; thus Mr. Stevenson writes : — 



" A very singular and beautiful variety was killed at Hedenham, in December 1852, which 

 is now in the collection of Mr. J. H. Gurney, who thus described its peculiar plumage in the 

 'Zoologist' (p. 3801): — 'It exhibits some remarkable variations from the usual colouring of this 

 species, especially on the rump, the feathers of which (including the upper tail-coverts) are in 

 this specimen all margined and tipped with a beautiful flame-coloured red, instead of with the 

 usual edging of yellow. The feathers at the lower part of the back of the neck are also similarly 

 tipped with red, while those on the back are pointed with the beautiful golden-yellow edgings 

 which usually characterize the feathers of the rump ; and a similar yellow pointing is to be 

 observed on the ends of the feathers forming the three lower rows of the wing-coverts. The 

 other parts of the plumage do not differ from ordinary specimens.' That this strange intensity 

 of colouring, however unique in a British specimen, is occasionally met with in other countries, 

 is shown by the following interesting remarks of Mr. Eobert Birkbeck, in the ' Zoologist ' for 

 1854 (p. 4209), under the title of 'Notes on the Birds of Italy and Sicily.' Speaking of the 

 Green Woodpecker, he says : — ' In the Museum at Pisa I observed three or four specimens with 

 the feathers on the rump and neck quite flame-coloured, and those on the back of a bright 

 yellow, similar to the specimen noticed by Mr. Gurney in the ' Zoologist.' Some were brighter 

 in colour than others. I think that they were distinguished as varieties of P. viridis.' " Mr. J. H. 

 Gurney, jun., has likewise lent us some curious varieties, concerning which he writes: — 



" I have lent you one in which the tips of the wings and tail are brown. It was recorded in 

 'The Naturalist' (No. 10) by Mr. Gunn. He has since had another, and in 'The Zoologist' 

 (p. 271) he says: — 'I have frequently observed examples of the Green Woodpecker having this 

 reddish brown or rusty hue on the tips of the wings and tail.' Smith notices it in his ' Birds of 

 Somersetshire' (p. 250)." 



We cannot help remarking that the supposed variation of brown wings to which Mr. Gurney 

 has referred, and which is represented in his collection, is caused by the bleaching and abrading 

 of the feathers from constant friction, and is not a decided abnormality. At the same time we 

 cannot account for a curious appearance which is to be seen on the back of some specimens and 

 looks like a wearing of the plumes ; it may possibly be the remains of the young plumage on the 

 birds assuming the adult dress in the spring without a moult. 



The descriptions of the adult birds are taken from a pair in our collection, the male from 

 Reading and the female from France. This old male is figured in the Plate ; and as the female is 

 exactly the same, excepting as regards the red moustache, we thought it better to give an illus- 

 tration of the young bird, which is not so well known. The immature specimen described and 

 figured is in the collection of Messrs. Salvin and Godman, and is from Norway. We have 

 characterized it as a young male ; but we are not quite sure whether the differences exhibited 

 between this bird and an English specimen in Mr. J. H. Gurney's collection, sexed as a female 

 and described above as such, are due to age or to climate, and we regret that we had not a larger 

 series of Scandinavian specimens for comparison. 



